Occasionally on Saturday, as Chelsea’s inexperienced manager struggled to find the right tactics and changes to counter Chris Hughton’s well-drilled Birmingham City, Villas-Boas resembled a very young boy trying to learn chess.

He looked bemused, confused and unable to deal with opposing moves.

This draw felt like a loss to Chelsea and definitely a further ebbing of Villas-Boas’s credibility. Only time will tell whether the Portuguese is out of his depth, and that may not be too long if Chelsea continue to falter and splinter.

At the very least, the absence of real imagination and tempo should alarm everyone at the Bridge.

As the final whistle sounded and a ripple of boos rolled briefly around the ground, the cameras immediately scanned the smart seats for Chelsea’s power brokers, checking for grimaces.

Roman Abramovich was not here but the cameras quickly located Ron Gourlay and Bruce Buck, who hardly looked impressed with such an uninspiring, disjointed performance.

Villas-Boas insisted afterwards that the board’s support for him was “unconditional” and if his remit is to refresh totally an ageing squad then he clearly has to be allowed longer to work on his “project”.

Culpability cannot be placed solely on his shoulders. Chelsea’s travails are also rooted in a board which has dismissed managers too precipitously and paid handsomely professionals who failed to show the requisite desire.

Some collective responsibility is required at Chelsea. It was not Villa-Boas’s fault that individual defenders failed to concentrate at a Birmingham corner, allowing David Murphy to drive Birmingham ahead. He was not to blame for Juan Mata missing the penalty or for Raul Meireles being so poor.

Yet managers set the tactics and the mood. The very best, like Jose Mourinho, whose name was sung by mischief-making visiting fans, inspire players.

Hughton has galvanised Birmingham, coaching defenders like Curtis Davies to deliver accomplished displays such as the one at Stamford Bridge.

The unity making Birmingham so much greater than the sum of their parts is painfully absent at Chelsea. It was an extraordinary admission by Villas-Boas to claim that he did not need senior stars behind him because Abramovich was behind him. The Russian cannot rescue him on the pitch; Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and company can.

Villas-Boas needs to offload them, replacing them properly, or treat them with more respect.

Body-language experts would have enjoyed a field day yesterday analysing the dynamic between Villas-Boas and his players. With 15 minutes remaining, Chelsea’s manager indicated to Lampard to warm up.

The midfielder, so often the saviour of the team’s dreams, pulled on a rather garish pink bib and headed off down the touchline, drawing the warmest of applause from the home faithful.

As the stewards began to take up their positions in front of the fans, Lampard became obscured from Villas-Boas’ view, forcing the Chelsea manager to place two fingers in his mouth and try to emit his loudest whistle as if the Bridge were hosting amateur night for “One Man And His Dog”.

Lampard eventually heard and darted back, standing next to Villas-Boas as the manager gave him instructions. Anyone espying the pair for the first time would have assumed they were strangers.

For 20 seconds, Lampard looked at the turf, having no eye contact with his manager. He then nodded and raced off to get ready, soon reappearing on the touchline.

The cameo continued to provide a window into the uncertainty and tensions inhibiting Chelsea. They were slow in making their change, so tardy that Branislav Ivanovic ran towards the bench and signalled for them to hurry up.

Such hesitancy by Villas-Boas hardly indicated a man in control. His decision to remove the creative Mata rather than the anonymous Meireles also drew brief derision.

Hughton hailed Villas-Boas as “an exceptional manager”, who had earned his chance at such an august English institution because of his success at Porto.

Managers like Hughton also deserve such opportunities. Such is Hughton’s superb work at St Andrew’s that it will be interesting to see whether the he and assistant Colin Calderwood get a mention for the Spurs job if Harry Redknapp is appointed by England.

Playing their 43rd game of the season, Birmingham’s resources had been so stretched that Hughton briefly scoured the youth ranks for reinforcements and still shaped a side that forced a replay.

“There’s only one Chrissie Hughton,’’ chanted the Birmingham fans. Villas-Boas can only dream of such backing from the terraces.

In truth, Chelsea fans largely hid their dissatisfaction, even though they had plenty to be furious about. Their team were one-paced, lacking urgency and creativity.

Their midfield was one-dimensional: none of Ramires, John Obi Mikel or Meireles possessed the ability to change the speed, to release Fernando Torres with the quick ball he used to thrive on from Steven Gerrard and company at Liverpool. Only David Luiz seemed in tune with Torres’s craving.

Villa-Boas said afterwards that he was not worried about Torres’s “physical form”, indicating that the Spaniard was merely being held back by a chronic paucity of confidence.

He suggested that Torres’s belief will return when “he scores a few goals” yet those goals will flow only when the Spaniard first reacquires that belief.

He needs his manager to work on his mind, and for Villas-Boas to demand his players find the striker faster. Villas-Boas has been at Chelsea seven months and has still to solve assorted conundrums such as Torres.

Another sign that all is not well was the indiscipline staining Chelsea’s game late on. David Luiz gave the ball away. Gary Cahill surrendered possession softly. So did Meireles.

Then Luiz body-checked Chris Burke. Then Ramires fouled Morgaro Gomis. Chelsea were imploding against opponents from the Football League.